We Can't All Be Heroes (can we?)
by Morgan Nicholas Maric
Summary: Claire just wanted to buy supplies for nachos, she didn't ask for anything that happened after. Now there's monsters and holes in the sky, and it's way above her pay-grade. She's in over her head, and she's pretty sure she's going insane. Oh well, at least she's got company while the world goes crazy.
1. Life, Interrupted

_A/N: Hey everyone, welcome to the new and improved Fourth Bearer of the Triforce! Old readers, glad to have you back! New readers, I hope you like it!_

* * *

"_She won't be safe, Lilith!"_

"_What other choice do we have, Gerome? She's not safe here, either!"_

_Please, not now,_ Claire thought hopelessly as she tried to focus on the teacher. Not on _going crazy_ and hearing voices - they were benign, nothing that directly communicated with her, but damn if it wasn't distracting.

Lilith and Gerome argued like a married couple. If Dr. Braxton was right, and they were people she remembered, maybe they were? They were painfully familiar to Claire, but she couldn't place it. Trying to put faces to the names or voices only ended up giving her a headache.

_"Gerome, what's happened?"_

_"He's here, they've come for her! We're out of time, Lilith."_

"_I... I understand. I need to prepare her for the... journey."_

_"How do you know he won't be defeated? What if this is _not _the only way?"_

_"His people remain, even if he is defeated. And if he is, they will hunt her in his name."_

What Claire wanted to know was '_who the hell are they talking about_?' What the hell kind of world were they in, what exactly were they facing that made it so dangerous for this mysterious 'her' they were talking about? Let alone the 'him'?

"Claire, you look like you're absolutely _dying_ to answer the question on the board," Mr. Nelson drawled, garnering titters from around the room as Claire flushed pink. _Crap. Don't mind me, just the neighbourhood crazy girl listening to the voices in her head instead of the lesson... _She knew they talked about her, that she and Julie (and their parents, for that matter) were an oddity in a tiny town like Port Anderton.

At that moment, the school speakers crackled to life_._

'_Claire McKinley, please come down to the principal's office. That's Claire McKinley to the principal's office,'_ the PA droned to the tune of quiet '_oooh_'s from Claire's classmates. The teen let her forehead _thunk_ onto the too-small desk for just a moment. She rolled her eyes as she got up from her desk, filtering out whatever half-hearted scolding Mr. Nelson was giving the students.

"What, are we in fifth grade?" Claire scoffed, glowering at a few of them as she passed. As soon as she was in the hall she pulled her phone out. Her shoes _clack-clack_ed quietly in the drab, empty hallway, but for Claire it may as well have been gunshots.

[Text: Claire-Bear] _What did you do this time? Why am I being called down to Ms. Roberts' office?_

[Text: Juliebean] _Character witness I think. Got in a fight with Stefan_

[Text: Claire-Bear] _Ugh, him. I get it, but..._

[Text: Claire-Bear] _You promised Markus you'd stop fighting_

[Text: Juliebean] _Am I just supposed to ignore it when people start saying crap about our family?_

Claire sighed, pushing her hair back from her face in exasperation. Detention at best, suspension most likely. Dinner would be awkward and quiet while Julie fumed and their parents would wait for her to speak first. _But I can't just let this go, either. She's not wrong... _She picked up the pace, small heels clicking louder with every step echoing down the hall.

'_People are always going to talk in a small town like this,'_ she remembered Markus telling her. '_I don't care what they say. I care about you and Julie and _your _happiness, and I know Daniel feels the same.' _

Claire had just managed to internalize that better than Jules, she supposed, but... that didn't mean she could just leave Jules hanging out to dry. Fidgeting with the collar of her blouse, she steeled herself and entered the office.

* * *

"Make way for our own Elle Woods over here," Daniel teased gently when Claire got home later in the afternoon. He'd gotten to the office just in time to hear Claire arguing Principal Robinson into submission.

'_Anderton Harbour Secondary has always prided itself on tolerance and its anti-bullying policy. By punishing Julie more harshly than Stefan for the fight, you would just be showing that that policy means nothing on an individual level - especially since Stefan was the instigator.'_

"Everybody underestimates the ones who look cute and unthreatening. What's more unthreatening than a five foot nothing girl in pastels and pumps?" Claire agreed sagely, shrugging out of her coat and kicking off her shoes. "I was polite enough about it that I couldn't get in trouble for arguing the principal into a corner, but I don't think she likes me very much for it. Not that she did to begin with." Claire was nonchalant - it didn't matter to her, not really. All the same, she leaned tiredly against the doorjamb. Facing the living room and all its zany, mismatched furniture, she tried to center herself in the happy memories of the room instead of her spectacularly unpleasant day at school.

"You could leave the arguing part to dad and I," Daniel pressed, a significance to his tone that said 'we're here, you don't have to do this alone'_. What a concept._

"I know. I've been trying," Claire promised quietly. She crossed the living room in a heartbeat when Daniel opened his free arm to her, nestling into his side on the plush couch without hesitating. She'd never managed to hide her exhaustion from him - he'd learned early-on what Claire looked like when it had been a long day and she just needed a hug. "Jules is my big sister. I had to try to help. I-I know she has some problems with her temper, but that doesn't mean I should just ditch her. And, well... It's _not fair._ You and dad already did all the arguing just to get us here. You shouldn't have to do it anymore."

"You shouldn't have to do it at all," Daniel countered with a reassuring squeeze around her shoulder. "And all the arguing was worth it to have you and Julie in our lives, kiddo."

'_If you want to stay here with us, Daniel and I will do everything we can to make sure you do. Just have a little faith,'_ Markus had reassured the girls one night after an especially trying day of talking with the social workers. Because they _wanted_ the girls to stay, they _wanted_ to be a family. It was more than just a paycheck for them, she knew now.

Claire nodded off under the safety of her dad's arm as the quiet continued, burrowing down into the feeling of warm acceptance and _love_. The last thing she felt as she drifted off was a soft kiss on the top of her head.

* * *

_The cacophony that erupted around her was startling, and Claire floundered for a moment as she tried to process the unfolding chaos: everywhere she turned, people were screaming, running every which way and tripping over each other in their attempts to get to safety. Everything was a blur, but Claire caught glimpses of the horrifying creatures terrorizing the townsfolk._

_They were like nothing she'd ever seen; grotesque, red eyed monsters of all shapes and sizes – some ran on four legs, and seemed to be the mounts, the others their riders. Occasionally Claire saw beady-eyed behemoths, smashing and attacking everything in sight like it was all made of glass __– if they weren't stopped soon, the city would be rubble in hours__. Soldiers poured from the gate of the massive castle above the town, and battle broke out around her as civilians ran for safety._

_The dream seemed to shift in time with two in particular, running down a cobblestone street to the west of the battle, turning to another street to the south and into one of the townhouses. The woman that Claire had come to recognize as Lilith was scrambling about, gathering what looked to be ingredients. The little girl she'd entered the house with was crouched against the wall beneath a table, as far from the door as she could be. _

_Claire noticed she had one blue eye and one green eye. Dark curls framed her face, in disarray from the sudden upheaval and damp from the downpour outside._

_Gerome burst in as Lilith began muttering over her strange concoction, and the girl ran into his arms immediately._

"_Lilith – what are you doing?" Gerome demanded when he saw her. Lilith's muttering ceased, and she gestured desperately to outside of the house._

"_What I have to do. You know why we have to, Gerome. Even if he falls, they will not stop until they have her," the woman spoke helplessly, and Claire saw desperate tears spilling down her cheeks. It seemed to be an age-old argument between them, one which Claire finally realized the significance of: the girl was in danger of someone coming after her – probably the same person responsible for the monsters terrorizing the town outside._

"_Gerome, they're coming! We need you out here!" A voice hollered from outside, and the man looked helpless as he hugged the child closer for a long moment, kissing the crown of her head. _

"_I love you so much, my Rowan. Never forget that."_

* * *

Claire jerked awake with a gasp, disoriented by the feeling of fabric tangled around her legs when she nearly rolled off the couch in her haste to do... _something_. Even she didn't know, half-awake and confused by the contents of her dream. All she was processing was _people around me_ and_ what's going on_, and she didn't care for it.

"Whoa, hey, you're okay," and there was Markus, his soothing presence an immediate balm as Claire looked around the living room, reorienting. Daniel - _blond, grey eyes, tall but not imposing,_ she'd noted when she saw him before awareness and recognition kicked in - was on the other side of the couch where he'd been when she fell asleep- Markus must have been the one to put a blanket over her once he got home. Both their expressions were creased with concern that she could barely process; she was just awake enough to register that her parents were there.

Claire slumped against the couch as she quickly reoriented to her surroundings. She was in her living room, not the destroyed town and its castle; there were no monsters here, just thrifted furniture loaded with clutter, layered with soft blankets and throw pillows just about everywhere.

"Just a dream," she mumbled, hoping to reassure her dads somewhat. The wobble in her voice did her no favours. Claire made a hasty retreat to the bathroom before either of them could speak up - she needed to take off her makeup anyways. She studied her appearance as the makeup was washed away: a little beaky nose, upturned eyes of blue and green, and the same barely-tamed curls the little girl in her dreams possessed. The little girl's hair matched her father's but she resembled Lilith the most, with her tanned, amber skin and angular eyes.

Claire stared into the mirror, trying to picture them standing with her. Why couldn't she just _remember? __Gerome called her 'Rowan', and she's a dead-ringer for me. Am I Rowan? Gerome and Lilith... Are _**_they_**_ my parents?_ The bigger question was if Claire _really_ wanted to know. Did it even matter, truly?

_...No, they're _not_,_ she decided firmly. _Markus and Daniel are my parents. Julie's my sister, and it doesn't matter who gave birth to us._

None of it explained the _ears_, though. They were pointed, like a goddamn elf. Or the Hylian characters in Zelda, maybe, but that seemed like a bit of a reach. It was more likely some kind of weird mutation, but _really_? She and her sister _both_ had weird elf-ears, though Claire's were. They had to have come from somewhere, and they weren't biologically related, so what did that tell her?

_Doesn't matter. We're family, so it doesn't matter._ All Claire did was readjust her headband so her hair was still away from her face, but her ears didn't stand out so much. Not that it mattered at home, at least not here, it was just a habit at this point.

When she came out of the bathroom, Julie and their parents were waiting in the living room. _Jules must've gotten home while I was asleep_.

_"_Hey, Claire, how do you feel about a movie night?" Markus asked when his youngest caught his eye. _His eyes are blue and green too, I could just as easily be his, _she thought rebelliously_. "_If you're up to it, dad and I figured you could go out to get supplies for nachos and we could watch Star Wars tonight."

"Do we have time for a full marathon?" Claire asked hopefully, perking up almost immediately. Star Wars was pretty much the _only_ movie franchise the family could agree on when it came to movie nights - Julie was partial to The Lord of the Rings (too long-winded for Claire to pay attention to), Markus liked Terminator (_also_ one of Claire's favourites, but Daniel wasn't so enthusiastic), and Daniel was usually caught between The Mummy movies and Indiana Jones, though those were fairly popular in the house as well. But _Star Wars..._ well, it was a classic comfort series on a crummy day like this one.

"Nothing less after a day like today. We'll see if we can stay awake long enough to watch them all," Daniel nodded with a chuckle. "How about it, then? Quick stop at Gatehouse Market and back?"

"You got it, Popstar. I nominate Jules to make the blanket pile while I'm gone, and I'm gonna laugh if it takes the whole ten minutes I'll be out," she ribbed good-naturedly as she stepped into her flats. She left the house to a chorus of 'bye's and 'love you's like they always did, stepping into the evening air with a little shiver. The sun had almost completely set, and the autumn chill was taking the place of what _had _been a relatively warm day. _At least I'm not going far..._

* * *

The only cashier who ever seemed to be at Gatehouse practically knew their family by name - at least three times a month one or more of them would come in to buy supplies for nachos, homemade pizza, a new recipe Julie saw online and just _had _to try out, or Markus' special lasagna. Roger was always friendly, and didn't seem to share the mindset of some of the more vocal townsfolk who disapproved of Claire's parents. He didn't say anything about it if he did, though, so who knew? Maybe he was just nice to Claire and Julie because he didn't believe in bullying teenagers.

_Or **maybe **he's just a decent person, Claire. It's not that deep, _she thought with a shake of her head.

"You have a good night, now," Roger said with a warm smile as Claire pocketed the change. "Walk safe, alright?"

"I don't live far, you don't have to worry about me," she shrugged, returning the smile as she snagged the groceries. "See you next time!

Claire might have stayed to talk with him longer, since Gatehouse was pretty much empty (and it was a tiny market, anyways), but she was looking forward to movie night too much to linger once the groceries were bagged. There was only so much time in a day, right? She wanted to spend as much of it watching Star Wars as she could. As she walked out the sliding doors, she shot off a quick text to Markus.

[Text: Claire-Bear] _Hey, on my way home now :) _

[Text: Marko-Polo] _Awesome! See you soon, sweetheart _

Claire couldn't hold back another shiver as a particularly strong breeze buffeted at her clothes and shook the trees planted along the sidewalk. She even heard a few windows sliding closed, and muffled cursing from someone's yard joined by clattering plastic. Maybe lawn decorations, or furniture were being knocked over. _Jesus, I should've changed into pants before I left. I do **not** need a Marilyn Monroe happening right now._

On the way home, though, Claire started to feel strange. Her vision was going dark around the edges, like shadows in her eyes. _What's happening to me?_ She stumbled as her balance wavered. Something was _very_ wrong. With shaking hands, Claire pulled out her phone once more.

[Text: Claire-Bear] _dad something's wrong_

[Text: Claire-Bear] _idk what's happening to me_

Claire's legs gave out beneath her, but she didn't remember hitting the ground as her world went dark. She could've sworn she heard a soft whisper of _It's time to go home,_ but she wouldn't remember it later.

* * *

_A/N: And that's it for our prologue! I really wanted to flesh out Claire's home life more than I did in the original, and touch on some of the issues that might come with the foster system, the potential effects of Claire's amnesia, etc. Thanks for reading! The next chapter should be out soon-ish, one can hope ^^;_

_**edit: I'm going to attempt a weekly update schedule over the summer!_


	2. Welcome Wagon

_A/N: Welcome back! I hope everyone liked the prologue chapter, I put a lot of work into actually fleshing out Claire's home life on Earth. When I looked back at the original, there wasn't a lot there to work with, and it just didn't... fit. I changed things up just a bit (read: a lot) so that Claire had some personal stakes as far as Earth went, and the decision to make Julie (Bethany) her adopted sister made sense to me so that Claire would have that personal connection from home that really meant something to the story - __**Rose's **__siblings in the original were just... characters mentioned in passing, and yeah, she loved them a lot, but they weren't crazy important to the story. Either way, enough of my babbling! Here's the official first chapter!_

* * *

Claire jolted awake with a start, stumbling to her feet before she was fully conscious. _Where am I? What's going on?_ She tripped over her own feet, falling hands and knees into the water.

Wait, _water_? Claire opened her eyes blearily, taking in what she could as her eyes adjusted to the dark. She was still outside, but none of the area looked familiar to her in the night. She could make out the outlines of towering trees blowing in the soft wind over her head - _a forest? The park? No, the park doesn't have a fountain, or a creek, or... whatever this is_. _Where the hell am I?_

Turning in a full circle, Claire saw a wooden gate covered in vines that seemed to block off this little spring from... whatever else was in the forest. She thought it was _starting_ to look familiar, but it wasn't exactly her focus right then. _Well... maybe it should be. If I find out where I am, I can find out how to get home. God, I'm so grounded..._ Then she noticed something else, as the moon peeked out from behind the clouds, and she could really see her surroundings and herself.

"What in fresh hell... what am I _wearing_?" Claire's clothes had been swapped out for something else entirely: her floral blouse and purple tennis skirt had been replaced with some sort of long shirt - or a short dress? - with a belt around her waist, a pair of white (?) pants, and dark boots that wrapped around her calves.

_What. The. Hell._

"Okay, this has gone _way_ past weird. I gotta get out of here..." Claire mumbled, pacing back and forth in front of the spring and trying to keep her breathing steady. Her phone had been in her hand when she'd woken up, but it had fallen into the dirt when she stood up. Looking at it now, there was no signal - and the stupid screen had a crack in the corner. _That's the least of your problems right now, Claire! _All the same, she turned the phone off and pulled the battery out; she didn't know how long she'd be wherever the hell she was, better safe than sorry. She hesitated, because where was she going to put it? She patted around, feeling for pockets in her clothes and coming across some sort of leather pouch on her hip, attached to the belt.

_I didn't ask for this, but I may as well use it while I'm here..._ It wasn't like she could do much with her phone if there were no cell towers in range, anyways.

In her musings, Claire didn't notice how the spring water had begun to softly glow - didn't notice until it got distractingly bright, outlining the rocks around the spring in a softer blue, and it really illuminated where exactly she was. It was startlingly familiar, but that wasn't reassuring. If Claire didn't know better...

"No, no _way.._. Everything's fine, it's just a dream, and you'll wake up any second now…" Claire muttered, fingers twisting into her hair as her palms pressed against either side of her head. Heedless of her denial, a golden orb rose from the water. It looked like it was made of pure light, drawing in the glow of the spring around it like a magnet. It seemed to be bending the light into a specific shape, coming together to form... Some kind of animal. Claire knew what it was, but she _wasn't_ going to say it. _Wake up, wake up, wake up! God, this can't really be happening, right?_

Claire wasn't able to do much but gape until the spirit - because that's what it was_,_ it was a freaking Light Spirit - spoke to her. The Very Fictional Goat Spirit was _talking to her_.

"You do not need to be afraid, little one. You are safe here," the spirit's voice was soft, warm. It didn't help much, but Claire's panic felt less like it was going to crawl out of her throat. Either way, communicating with something she _knew_ was fictional wasn't really helping the whole panicking thing. She itched to begin pacing again, feeling too jittery to just stand there, but she felt rooted to her spot in the dirt.

"Doesn't seem like it from where I'm standing," she retorted shakily. "I-I don't know who or what you are, or where-or where I am, or-" She stopped, biting her lip til she tasted blood. She couldn't get answers if she was busy falling apart.

"You do know, but you do not want to believe it," the spirit corrected gently. Why did it have to sound so serene about it while it was calling Claire out like that? She huffed, annoyed, turning to try and stomp off before she remembered; '_right, I'm locked in here until someone opens the gate.'_ Sure, she could climb over the gate, but was that really smart? If it broke because it couldn't hold her weight, that'd only make people angry. And even if she did get out unscathed... where would she go?

The spirit waited patiently while Claire ran the numbers in her head, considering her options. She inched her way back towards the spring unhappily, and the spirit still waited. Claire got the feeling it wanted _her_ to acknowledge the elephant in the room. _Ugh_...

"...Ordona," she bit out morosely, a grudging acknowledgement. The spirit dipped its head in a single nod. "Well, it's great to know I've officially gone insane. You're not _real_. If-If I'm where I think I am, then... No, there's no way. Guess I just finally snapped, huh?" The sharp tone was undercut by the obvious tremor, and Claire tapped one booted foot into the dirt looking for something to ground her.

"I'm afraid this is all very real. I know you must have many questions, little one, but you are not yet ready for the answers. All I am permitted to say is that you are here for a reason: this world needs your help." Ordona began to fade, and Claire panicked.

"He-Hey! You can't just leave after dropping something like that on me!" She protested in a cracking voice. "I don't know what I'm doing, you can't just leave me with that!" Too late, the warm glow was already seeping away as Ordona disappeared. Claire was once again left in the dark with only vague outlines of the trees, the rocks in the spring, and the mossy walls that left her boxed in. _I really am stuck in here..._

"Have faith, young Rowan. The Goddesses have not left you unprepared for the trials ahead of you." _Rowan?_ There was that name again.

Claire let out a huff that came out more like a sob. "Cryptic spirit garbage..." she muttered with a slightly hysterical laugh. "_God_, what do I do?" she whispered as the panic set in. The teen collapsed into a small nook in the far end of the spring, holding her knees to her chest as she tried not to _completely_ fall apart. Truthfully, Claire wanted to scream and cry until whatever brought her here sent her _back, _but she knew that wouldn't work. Besides, throwing a tantrum in the middle of the night where people would surely hear her would only make her look crazy, right? _As if this situation isn't **already** crazy! You just got yanked into a fictional world with no warning!_

Assuming she wasn't actually just living in a padded cell and sporting a straitjacket, at least. Claire didn't know which option was worse; that everything she was seeing was _real_ and tangible, or that she was just delusional. _Dad and, well, dad are going to be heartbroken either way, **crap!**_ And what about Julie? Was she going to see her again?

'You are here for a reason,' Ordona had said. Claire wanted to believe that was utter crap, but... well. All evidence to the contrary. For now she just curled in on herself and cried into her knees until she fell asleep under the light of an unfamiliar moon.

_At least this one doesn't have a face..._

* * *

_It was raining, the wind was howling, but she heard none of it over the din of the battlefield; swords banging and scraping against shields and chainmail, the cries of terrified civilians running for safety, soldiers and monsters alike being cut down where they stood. In the center of the town square, two more fought separate from the rest. Gerome was one of them, the other was quite possibly the most terrifying thing Claire had ever seen. _

_It towered over Gerome and the surrounding soldiers by a good few feet, brandished a wicked two-handed sword with a jagged edge that was painful just to look at, and its armour was a black stain against the lighter grey stone of the townhouses around them._

_The fight seemed very one-sided; the monster was barely fighting, yet Gerome was struggling and looked worse by the second. Claire ached to help in some way but stayed rooted to the spot, forced to watch as Gerome slowly lost the battle – a part of her noted that even if Gerome won, he'd bleed out too quickly to get help. There was a nasty gash on his arm where the chain mail ended, bleeding profusely into his un-armored sleeve. His other arm dangled limp at his side, broken from the looks of it. How he continued to fight was baffling – he had to know he couldn't win this, so… why was he fighting so desperately, like he was the only one who could? Surely there was someone else who could have done it, wasn't there? _

"_Fall back, you idiot!" Claire tried to yell, but no sound came out. She was just an observer, after all, of events which had already taken place._

_The battle truly ended when Gerome's sword flew out of his hand, clattering to the cobblestone street. Claire barely had time to process it before the monster lunged, sword tipped forward and going in for the kill._

"_Look out!" She knew it was useless, she knew she was dreaming, but that didn't stop her from trying. Claire's screams fell on deaf ears, and the monster's sword pierced through armor, flesh, and bone like they were made of tissue paper. The crunching and snapping of the man's ribs as his chest was pierced were nauseating, sent a chill down Claire's spine. Somehow, over the roar of the battle and her own horrified scream, she heard the choked cry from Gerome, and a chilling hiss from the monster;_

"_You can try to protect her** from the grave!" **__The monster ripped its jagged sword from Gerome's now-limp body, and Claire heard herself screaming again as his body fell to the cobblestone–_

* * *

_I'm going to be sick_, Claire thought when she jerked awake with the sun peeking through the trees. She stayed on the ground while she waited for the nausea to pass, doing her best to breathe deeply – she'd never had such a graphic dream before, but _that..._ God, dream or not, the smell of blood lingered in her nose.

_Don't think about it. Get up, get moving, and forget it happened. _She finally forced herself to sit up, wincing as the muscles in her back twinged with the movement. She'd definitely slept on the ground last night.

"Not _all_ a dream, then... or maybe I'm still asleep," she muttered wearily, wiping chilled sweat off her brow as she tried to take in the world around her. The sky was a sort of creamy orange that precluded full sunrise, little golden rays of early-morning sunshine _just_ making it into the spring through the trees and lighting up little patches of water like gold. Claire might even enjoy it if she weren't so damn freaked out by the post-nightmare 'everything else' she was stuck with.

With a drawn-out sigh, Claire pushed herself up onto her knees and scooted to the edge of the spring. Splashing cool water on her face and drinking heartily, she felt a bit more like a person as the last of the nausea faded with the vestiges of her nightmare overtaken by the 'real world' around her. For given definition of _real_, at least, but it was the principle of the thing. _What's that comic, with the dog drinking coffee? 'This is fine.' That's what this feels like right now._

"Awake, alive, and possibly insane," Claire scoffed to herself. _I have to figure out what I'm going to do next. _"But... what _can_ I do? I'm unarmed, I don't... damn it, what about when the Twilight stuff happens?" she realized with a gasp. Ordona would've said something if Link's journey had already begun, right? So... it probably hadn't yet, so... what was Claire supposed to do when it all started?

_Video game logic, I should find out if the powers-that-be left me with anything besides a new outfit. _To be fair, it came with fancy leather bracers - like the super-detailed, fitted kind that cosplayers with money could afford to custom order. Further exploration showed some sort of chainmail under what Claire now knew was a long, deep blue tunic, but the mail seemed flimsy and cheap - it hardly weighed a thing, and she knew chainmail had to be heavy; it was a _metal shirt_.

"What is this, some kind of mithril crap?" she wondered aloud, thinking back to Tolkien's books. _Light as a feather, hard as dragon scales?_ That didn't seem likely, but maybe that was the same deal Link ended up getting when he got the Hero's Clothes. Then again, he could wrangle goats, Gorons, and a giant _metal ball and chain_ with relative ease in the game, so maybe he just had super strength. Chainmail would comparatively weigh nothing, contending with all that. _Or Nintendo doesn't give a damn about real-world physics no matter how MatPat applies them to Zelda, because that's also an option._

The real treat was the leather bag - not only did it have Claire's phone where she'd stashed it last night, it also had some kind of weird bottomless magic, and there were _daggers_ inside!

"I guess that makes me the rogue," she scoffed to herself, but unable to ignore how freaking _awesome_ that was. _Who knew Hyrule would ascribe to RPG classifications? And hey, this explains how Link carries all that heavy crap with him throughout the game: it's a Mary Poppins bag!_

The moment of giddiness over her fancy new weapons - which were carefully packed back into the little pouch with her new chainmail and white undershirt, because Claire was more likely to get herself hurt than successfully take down any monsters with those - was interrupted by the creaking of the gate to the spring. Someone had unlocked it. Claire shrank back with a jolt of terror until the gate revealed a tall blond man with a sword on his back and a cloth around his head.

_Oh, it's Rusl_.

Claire remembered him from Twilight Princess, but he hadn't looked quite so much like Sean Bean with the GameCube's polygon count. Either way, she was positive it was Rusl eyeing her with suspicion. Ordonian clothes were fairly distinctive, and there were only so many residents in the village, right?

"Um... Hi," Claire waved awkwardly, wincing when her voice cracked. What a wonderful first impression, knelt in the dirt with some truly impressive bedhead going on and rumpled, slept-in clothes that looked more fitting for the aftermath of a crazy night on the town. _Ha! Like Port Anderton has a nightlife. _

"What brings you to Ordon, stranger?" Rusl asked, breaking Claire out of her odd tangent. His defensive posture hadn't changed, like he was waiting for her to attack him or something. Did he _seriously_ think Claire was a threat? Christ... In the moment, she panicked.

"I have no idea," Claire blurted out. "I was on my way home, and I passed out and woke up here last night." It wasn't a lie, not really: Ordona was incredibly vague, but Claire probably _should have_ come up with a convincing lie - the truth sounded like utter BS.

"One of ours came to me not long ago, saying he heard screaming coming from the spring." ...Oh, that was just peachy. Definitely not embarrassing at all, especially if the one who got Rusl was who she thought it was... _He lives closer to the spring than anyone else... ugh, I hope it wasn't him._

"Nightmares, can't help it," Claire shrugged with nonchalance that she didn't feel. Fictional characters she was semi-familiar with or no, there was something very uncomfortable about strangers being privy to her violent nightmares.

Claire must've been more transparent than she thought, because when she looked back at Rusl he seemed sympathetic. Then again, with no makeup and little rest she probably looked like a sleep-deprived zombie at this point - she was _exhausted_, and Rusl was still contemplating her. That was fair, she supposed, but the staring was uncomfortable.

"I, uhm, I'm Claire McKinley," she introduced herself with a half-hearted wave. _And I have a feeling I'm not in Kansas anymore,_ she didn't say - Rusl wouldn't understand, and she didn't even live in the States anyways. _A__pparently I don't even live on Earth anymore, and I don't care for that at **all**._

"My name is Rusl. If you don't hail from nearby, where is your home?" Rusl questioned, narrowing his eyes. The visible apprehension was _not_ reassuring.

"Port Anderton, British Columbia. Wait- Damn it, that... that doesn't mean anything to you. I'm sorry, I'm just - I'm not from Hyrule, and I... don't think there's any way for me to get home anyways," Claire admitted, disheartened. If the damned Goddesses wanted her in Hyrule, they wouldn't take too kindly to her trying to go home before they were done with her. _Pissing off the divine is never a good idea, and if I'm part of their grand scheme for this era, then... well, I'm kind of screwed. Hey, at least I didn't end up anywhere more dangerous, I guess? _

"You've no friends or family to look to for help?" Well, concern and possibly pity was better than thinking Claire was lying or a threat, even if she had to bite back an automatic retort that she didn't _need_ anyone's help. That would be one hundred percent wrong, especially _here_, and she didn't want to get snippy with someone who could help her.

"Uh, not really. My family's back home - my sister and our parents, they're... probably wondering where I am..." Claire was supposed to bring the fixings for nachos home last night. Was time passing on Earth, did they think she had run away? That she'd been kidnapped? Or was it like in the Chronicles of Narnia, where time stood still until she got to go home? _God, I hope so._

Rusl nodded to himself, like she'd given him a much clearer answer than she had. "Alright. Come along, then. We'll meet with the mayor and see if we can't accommodate you for a few days. One of ours will be going to Castle Town in about two weeks, perhaps you can travel with them." He offered one hand to Claire, pulling her to her feet before gesturing for her to follow him out of the spring.

_Well, this ought to be interesting._

* * *

_A/N: I'm finishing this chapter the day after my final exam, so now I've got all summer to write! I mean, this following week (which'll have already passed by the time I post this) will be a bit crazy as I'm moving in exactly 7 days, so, y'know, packing and all that garbage. I'm __**hoping **__to maintain a weekly update schedule over the summer, but. I'm not super great with structure, haha._


	3. Be Our Guest

_A/N: Hello again! Sorry this is __**so **__late! Long story short my summer bombed and this semester has been a total gong-show! But now I'm back, and I'm getting super into this, so I hope you all are too! It's been literal years since I thought of Rose and the gang, but I'm super excited to rework the story into something new and awesome with Rose-now-Claire (possibly Rowan? :O) I'm so glad people seem to like it so far! Feedback is my bread and butter, thank you guys so much for letting me know your thoughts on the story!_

_Without further ado, let's get going!_

_**EDIT: Quick question! In my original story, there were a few segments from other characters' points of view. If you'd like to comment and let me know if you want to see more or less of that in _

**_this_**_ story, I'm always happy to hear from my readers! _

* * *

Mayor Bo was a kind man, but Claire was still regarded with some suspicion by him and his daughter both almost as soon as Rusl introduced them. It rankled, and she was burning with curiosity - what in the hell made them so wary of strangers? For God's sake, Claire was _fifteen_, unarmed (as far as they knew) and alone, what threat could she possibly pose to their village?

_You're trying to get a bed for the night, maybe don't show how annoyed you are,_ she thought to herself with a shake of her head. Glowering and huffing about it wouldn't do her any favours.

After short introductions and a general conversation about what had happened to Claire, Rusl and Bo took to the other side of the wide room to deliberate in hushed whispers what exactly they should do. Ilia had huffed off somewhere outside, and Claire had had to force herself to not feel too stung by the clear dismissal from the older girl.

That the adults were talking about her wasn't in itself too much of a problem, except that they'd been going over it for a good fifteen minutes so far. Claire had long since resigned herself to sitting down against the nearest wall, having run out of random things in the house to study and pretend to be interested in. That, and there were only so many places she could surreptitiously snoop without making a nuisance of herself and damaging her case.

Well, as much as '_please let me live somewhere in your village for a few days, I'm very small and have no money, so you can imagine the kind of stress I'm under'_ could be considered a case_._

Claire was more patient than her sister, but she was reaching her limit - and honestly? The longer they talked, the more worried she got that they would turn her away. _Maybe I should nip this problem in the bud and get out of here... I can survive a few weeks being basically homeless, right? It'll be like camping, just without a tent, or food, or... well. Anything, I guess._

"Hey, um... excuse me?" Both men turned to her. "If my - if my being here is going to cause any problems, I can just... I'd rather leave if it's not... convenient, for me to be here. It's not a big deal." It was, actually, but it didn't really matter. There were plenty of places to sleep outside the village, and it couldn't be _that _hard, could it?

"Now, now, there's no need for that," the mayor was quick to assure her. "We're just figurin' out the best place for you to stay while you're here."

"How are you with children?" Rusl interjected. Claire knew there were three families with kids in the village, so it made sense to ask.

"Um... I lived in a group home with a lot of younger kids for about four years, I'm pretty used to keeping an eye out and making sure nobody gets hurt," she shrugged, realizing her error when the adults shared a look. The mayor mouthed the words 'group home' to Rusl, like a question. _Whoops._ "I guess they're still called orphanages here," she realized out loud. _Double-whoops, **there's** the pity I was hoping not to see._

"...Well, that being the case, I'd like to introduce you to my wife Uli to see if she's open to you staying with us," Rusl continued, looking like her answer had thrown him off balance. He didn't really know how to respond to Claire's flippancy about her circumstances.

"Lead the way," she gestured back to the door. "It, uh, it was nice to meet you, Mayor Bo," she offered awkwardly - her social skills were... distinctly lacking. But that was acceptable, given the situation, right?

_I'm screwed._

* * *

Uli was warm and welcoming within moments of Claire's introduction, and she couldn't say she wasn't glad for it. Being regarded with suspicion from everyone else thus far had been uncomfortable, and Claire couldn't figure out _why_ they seemed so wary of her! She couldn't _really_ look like such a threat, could she?

Either way, being greeted with a pleasant smile was a nice change.

"This is our son, Colin," Uli introduced after a moment, gesturing to the small boy peeking out from behind her leg. He waved, but didn't say anything. "Colin, this is Claire. She's going to be staying in the village until it's time to deliver the royal gift to the castle."

Claire knelt down to look up at the timid boy, making sure her demeanor was open and friendly. "It's nice to meet you, Colin. I hope we can be friends while I'm here," she offered quietly, getting a shy smile from the boy that he smothered into Uli's shirt.

Uli took Claire through the nickel-tour of the home, sending Colin out to play. All Claire could think was that the real home (for given definition of real, since 'real' assumed she wasn't insane) was bigger than it was in the game, boasting a back room that led to a second level, and even a cellar with a trapdoor behind the couch from the game. It was impressive, and made Claire feel less bad about taking up space in their home if she was going to be staying here. It didn't seem like she'd be putting anyone out of a room, so there was that.

It was when Uli and Claire started getting to know each other that things got just a little bit rocky: more specifically, mentioning her love of martial arts. The term seemed unfamiliar to Uli, and Claire elaborated without thinking.

"Self defense, hand-to-hand combat," she shrugged, realizing her error when Uli tensed, an edge of caution sharpening her gaze. "_Only_ in self defense, I promise," she stammered out quickly after. The last thing Claire wanted was for anyone to be afraid and/or _more_ suspicious of her.

"... May I ask why?" Oh, thank _God _there wasn't any immediate suspicion in the words, but the pregnant woman had taken up a tense stance all the same.

"I, um... I grew up in a pretty conservative town, with an... unconventional family. I had to learn how to protect myself. My sister looked out for me, but our parents wanted to make sure we both knew how to defend ourselves if anyone tried to start trouble." Port Anderton wasn't the most welcoming place even for 'normal' people, truth be told. Claire could never pretend to understand why Daniel was so attached to the town, with how awfully it treated him even before he'd moved away and come home with a husband.

"That sounds like a challenging upbringing," Uli mused, looking at Claire with - not pity, but understanding.

"I mean... I _guess_, but I don't have any basis for comparison. It's the only home I remember, just... being how it's always been," the girl shrugged. "Regardless of how I grew up, though, I promise - I _promise_, I would never do anything to intentionally hurt your family - or-or anyone in the village, for that matter." The longer Uli contemplated her, the more time Claire had to panic and pray that this wouldn't tip the scales out of her favour. She was _homeless _if she screwed this up!

"I believe you," the young mother reassured her after a long moment, in which Claire was sure she was about to embarrass herself by hyperventilating (or worse, _crying)_. She let out a breath she hadn't known she'd been holding, sagging back down into her seat. "It's a dangerous world to live in, regardless of where one's home was built."

_You don't know the half of it,_ Claire thought, really not looking forward to the Relevant Plot Events she knew would be coming soon. Twilight Princess was her favourite game, but _living it_ promised to be a whole new can of worms she wasn't ready to open. _I have weapons I don't know how to use and absolutely no instructions on what the hell I'm expected to do here except 'this world needs my help'?_

_I am __**so**_ _screwed._

* * *

Claire's first day in Ordon Village passed with little fanfare beyond that frightening turn in her conversation with Uli, introductions going smoother as the village warmed to the foreigner in their midst - it seemed Uli's seal of approval was good enough for the other village wives, and their husbands followed their lead.

The children were endlessly fascinated with Claire at the mere idea of the stories she could tell, someone who had not lived and grown in the valley like they had. Too bad Claire had to censor most of them of her time on Earth, and curtail even what she knew about Hyrule - however much she knew about the world-state _in_ Twilight Princess, who knew what the reality was?

(If it _was_ reality, but the jury was still out on that one.)

Children were luckily distractible enough when Claire offered to teach them to play games from Earth - with some modified rules, since there were so few kids in the village. Their favourites were capture the flag and hide-and-seek tag, always classics. Claire still found herself mediating disputes with the rules, changing them as needed when it seemed like any one of the kids was singled out as 'it' too often for it to be fair.

Claire didn't notice she'd fallen under scrutiny, playing the 'fiendish dragon' to the kids' brave knights - not until she 'died' dramatically as the kids (besides Malo) dog-piled her, cheering about defeating the dragon. She caught an upside-down glimpse of a pair of sandals, leading into the silhouette of a person that she couldn't quite catch with the sun in her eyes, until whoever it was blocked the light. Mismatched eyes met ocean-blue as Claire blinked to adjust to the change, finally focusing in on...

_Oh, good __**Lord**__._

"I was wondering why none of the kids came to the ranch to say good morning today," the future Hero of Twilight mused, and Claire was panicking just a little bit because _oh my God, that's __**Link**__! And he has a cute-as-hell **drawl**._

"Hi!" she squeaked, pretending it was because Beth had taken a tumble and elbowed her in the sternum. She'd gotten worse sparring with Julie, and Beth was light as a feather in comparison. "I, uh, think I stole your fan club away from you," she gestured sheepishly to the kids with her free arm - well, it was free until Talo pounced again with a little battle cry.

"I can see that," Link didn't quite smirk, but the amusement rolled off him in waves. "And you are...?"

_Whoops._ "Oh! I'm Claire McKinley. Hi, I'm, uh... I'm staying in the village for a little bit. Nice to meet you."

All Claire could do was hope and pray that her anxious, clipped sentences weren't taken as rudeness. _If this plays out the way I think it's going to, my life will be a __**lot**_ _easier if I make friends with Link._

"I'm Link," he said in return, apparently unbothered. "Welcome to Ordon. What brought you to our little corner of Hyrule?"

"When I figure it out, I'll let you know," both teens laughed at the quip, though Link still looked curious, and Claire had a feeling she was going to find the answer sooner rather than later. Ordona telling her '_this world needs your help'_ was foreboding enough without Claire's knowledge of the future (potential future? Should she disregard everything Twilight Princess told her about this era? No, there had to be _some _truth to the story she was told, right?)

She'd have to keep an eye on just how much of the story held up to the real thing - it wouldn't do her any good to throw the baby out with the bathwater, not when foreknowledge could be super useful, but she had to figure out a margin for error when it came to the accuracy of what she knew.

_It can__**not**_ _be my fault if Link dies. I can't go down in history as some incompetent seer who got the Hero killed because her information was bad!_

Claire tuned back into the world around her and realized Link had asked something, and the kids had (mostly) let her free. Sitting up out of the dirt, she found herself staring blankly. What was she supposed to _say_?

Link evidently realized how lost she was, because he repeated the question. "I just wanted to make sure the kids aren't being too rough."

"Nah, we're all good here," Claire grinned, reaching to tickle at Beth's feet while the girl squealed. "My sister and I roughhouse like this all the time, and she's built like a Gerudo." She sobered when Julie came to the forefront of her thoughts. "Well, we did. But-But, uh, I don't mind being finally the biggest player, even if it means I'm the dragon," she tried to play it off with a laugh that sounded false even to her ears.

Whatever Link had inferred about Claire from their little chat, he gave her a sympathetic little smile at that.

"I'll let you get back to it, then. I'd better get back up there," he pointed back in the direction of the ranch.

"Of course, I don't- I don't want to keep you from your work!" Claire said, immediately standing back up and offering one hand. "It was nice to meet you, Link. I guess I'll, I'll see you around."

Link shook the proffered hand, but he was bemused. _Wait, are handshakes a thing in Hyrule? Is that 'unladylike' or something?_

"See you around," he echoed, turning back to the path over the hill. Claire couldn't follow with her eyes for long before the kids were calling her back into the game.

_Maybe being in crazy-land won't be so bad,_ she thought, for the first time since waking up in the spring.

* * *

_A/N: Again, so sorry I said "I'll try for weekly updates over the summer!" and then didn't update until December -_-; I definitely didn't plan for it to turn out that way! The next chapter is underway, I'm not going to make promises I can't keep so I'll just say it won't take me as long to update next time! I got bit by a writing bug, but probably not nearly enough to try for weekly updates again ^^; See y'all next time!_


	4. Hold Your Breath

_A/N: Welcome back! Thanks for giving me a chance, I've loved hearing from old and new readers alike since starting this project – it's a little hard to believe that some of you have been here almost from the beginning! I'm happy people seem to like my new take on Claire compared to Rose, I wanted to try something new with the character without starting from scratch (not completely, anyways). The big story points are staying largely the same, but I'm planning to individualize Claire a little more since Original Rose was just a few personality traits shy of being a 100% self-insert of my teenage self, so some character development may vary from the original. _

_Alright, tangent over, let's get to the story! I'm sorry if you're getting tired of the filler stuff, I'm just having a lot of fun with the characters_ ?

* * *

Claire settled into her role in Ordon with ease as the first week slowly passed. Most of Claire's day was spent keeping the children from getting underfoot (or from going off into the woods to look for trouble) while the adults did their work, and pretty much acting as Uli's errand girl whenever she had a free moment. All the while, the teen was observing (and she was just as sure that she was being studied in return).

Sera took _very_ well to Claire right from their first introduction, which the teen figured might have been from whatever shining review Beth had given her parents after meeting the new girl in the village. It probably helped that when asked if she'd like to help Sera separate pumpkin seeds from the pulp, Claire rolled up her sleeves and asked where Sera wanted her.

Ten minutes of easy conversation passed, occasionally making Sera laugh at her reactions to the slimy pulp, before Claire's nose ring finally came up in conversation — it wasn't the jewelry itself, but rather an unexpected side-effect of bringing Earth jewelry to rural Hyrule.

"That jewel must've cost a fortune," Sera cooed over the little stud — which Claire was pretty sure she'd found at Spencer's for ten dollars. The pearly blue opal in the setting _was_ pretty, but it was also pretty much worthless.

"I have no idea," Claire shrugged instead. "It was a birthday gift." Only half a lie, since she'd gotten it with a birthday gift card from her Aunt Rachel.

"I've never been one for flashy jewelry like that, I'll take my rings any day," the shopkeeper confessed with a wave of her fingers toward the veritable mountain of admittedly-plain golden rings across the table from the pumpkin mess. "But yours... it suits your face, m'dear, and matches those lovely eyes of yours."

Claire didn't really expect that, and tried to ignore Sera's gentle chortling at her flustered response.

Sera's husband Hanch, inversely, was much more timid when they were introduced, but he eventually got around to asking Claire if she would show Beth '_some of them fancy fightin' moves'_ while she was in the village — apparently word had gotten around. That made sense, probably.

"I mean... I won't pretend that's a _bad _idea, but why?" She couldn't help but ask. Ordon was (and for all Hanch knew, would _continue to be_) peaceful, right?

"Might sound awful silly, Miss Claire, but I can't shake this feeling that I gotta protect my little girl. Ain't exactly fighters, us Ordon folk, but even a little somethin' to help my Beth when she needs it would mean the world."

He wanted his daughter to be safe, which Claire could admire: that was (mostly) why her parents had put her into kickboxing – and then jiu jitsu a little over a year ago, too. She couldn't in good conscience tell Hanch _no_, especially not when she knew what was coming.

If a few easy tricks made Beth –and Talo, once he insisted on being included– feel safer, Claire was all for it.

There was one stipulation Claire insisted on for both of them as soon as they started, however:

"Okay, before we do anything else," Claire turned to face her small students, bending down to eye level with the two Ordonian children. "I'm going to tell both of you what _my_ teacher told me when we first started, alright? This is about self-defense, and _only_ for self-defense. You don't learn it to show off, or to start fights, or to pick on people smaller than you. It's to protect yourself. Can you promise that?"

Beth did in a heartbeat, bouncing on the spot and waiting for Talo. Claire held up a finger to stop him before he could say it.

"That includes using any of this to mess with Colin," she added sternly. Talo briefly slumped, but he did as well.

"I promise I won't bully Colin or anyone else," he mumbled, but it was good enough for Claire.

"Awesome, let's get started," she smiled, and self-defense lessons began.

When she was invited for dinner with Talo and Malo's family a day later, Claire learned Jaggle and Pergie were toying with the idea of having a third child. It turned out Pergie _desperately_ wanted to have a daughter, but the poor woman was already going grey from managing two boys while Jaggle lazed about like an aloof cat.

"It might not be a problem for you, mindin' those boys all day, but I couldn't have gotten all this cleaning done with the boys causin' mayhem," Pergie admitted with a weary-but-satisfied sigh. Claire figured it was worth it to horse around with the kids when they were finished their chores if it gave their parents some down-time — these folks already worked hard enough without the constant child-wrangling. Well, most of them did, anyways.

"It's nothing I'm not used to, really," Claire shrugged. "I lived in a few places with a lot of younger kids, it was kind of expected that the older ones looked out for the younger ones. I'm a little out of practice, sure, but I remember what to do."

Pergie looked curious, but elected not to ask — Claire was glad for it. Gods only knew if knowledge of her 'orphan' status had spread amongst the village parents. Was that why they warmed to her initially?

_Or maybe they're just nice people, __**Claire.**_ _Jesus..._

The only two Claire had yet to really talk to as the first week passed were Fado and Link, since the boys spent most of their days at Ordon Ranch. Claire knew that Fado tended to wake Link with the sun– she'd usually hear him hollering for Link in the early hours of the morning, followed by two sets of footfalls passing by as they went to the ranch.

Claire knew Fado had it _bad_ for Ilia within seconds of meeting him, since the older girl had eventually agreed to handle introductions when her father suggested it.

"Whether or not I have permission, I just don't feel super great about just inviting myself up there to interrupt their work," Claire finally admitted when Ilia asked why she wouldn't go up on her own. She felt the mayor's daughter studying her from the corner of her eye, but in the end Ilia just shrugged.

"I suppose that makes sense," she agreed. "Whatever else you are, you're still one of the more polite visitors Ordon's gotten." What was _that_ supposed to mean? Claire wasn't sure if she wanted to ask, but they'd gotten to the ranch now- it didn't really matter.

"Well, hey there, Miss Ilia!" Fado brightened up immediately when he caught sight of the mayor's daughter. "How you doin' today, little lady?"

It was actually pretty subtle, but Fado had that look– he was absolutely _gone _for her. Maybe Claire just knew what to look for because her parents were still ridiculously in love with each other after almost ten years together. She wondered if anything would come of that look from Fado, after... well, _after_.

_Link's shown riding away from Ordon at the end of the game, so who knows?_

"Sorry to interrupt your work again," Claire smiled sheepishly when Link approached.

"No need, it's been slow. I can't say I mind the interruption," he shrugged. "Finishing introductions?" Link indicated to Fado, and Claire nodded.

"Yeah, I felt weird to just invite myself up, so I asked Ilia to introduce me." Link gave her that contemplative look she was slowly growing used to from the villagers, like she'd said something strange.

"You're welcome to come up and say hello. I can't promise I'll always be able to chat, but by all means— stop by," he said, and Claire's stomach did something funny when he gave her a little half-smile.

"I'll remember that," Claire answered, almost wincing at the telling crack in her voice. She beat a hasty retreat after that, not looking back to see if Link noticed her burning red face (right to the tips of her ears, _ugh!)_

...Likewise, Claire's hosts learned much about their strange charge over their two weeks of peace: they learned that Claire had a slew of unfamiliar slang that she loved using to catch people off guard, and that she knew of music that sounded like nothing made in Hyrule.

"Thoughts seem to stumble out of my mouth, I can't seem to stop and talk to them," Claire was singing quietly to herself as she tended to Rusl's family pumpkin patch, not noticing the glances she was drawing from Colin and Uli as they worked on the washing. "Fear tries, to pierce the armour of truth... hollow point sniper hyperbole..."

She ended up making it to the end of the song before either Ordonian could voice their curiosity.

"Did you write that, Miss Claire?" Colin finally piped up as the song trailed into silence, startling Claire out of her trance.

"Huh? Oh! Um, no. No, I'm... not much of a writer," the teen shook her head. "It's a song by a band I got to see perform a few years ago. I'm not really sure what the lyrics mean, I just like the way they sound," she confessed sheepishly.

"Does all music sound like that where you're from?" Colin asked, awed.

"That's... one genre of music," Claire settled on her answer with a little shrug. "There's thousands of musicians in the world, and most of them have their own style, and they get sorted into genres based on the style and the sound."

"_Whoa_..." Colin gasped, and Uli couldn't help a smile at her son's interest — her own wonderings were cast aside in favour of appreciating her son really expressing his interests. The fact that he felt comfortable enough to do so... Uli appreciated Claire a little more for it. She wasn't blind, she knew Colin tended to get pushed around and picked on by the other children. Of course he couldn't talk to any of them about _music_, not without risking further teasing.

Claire was patient with Colin, even as the number of questions reached double digits. The only times she wouldn't answer were things she genuinely didn't know about, and she told him so.

"My home is... Probably bigger than you can imagine, kiddo. Heck, I'm still a kid too. I'm still learning about the world," she admitted wryly, getting a little laugh from the boy.

Just another peculiarity on the list, really.

They quickly learned she got up with the sun, and every few days she went to the spirit spring to train as best she could without any real equipment (or even a sparring partner).

They learned Claire couldn't help but investigate when something caught her attention, and more than once she'd been cautioned to at least stay in Ordon if she went out exploring – which she did, she _really_ did! ...Okay, so she _usually_ did. But there was only so much to see in Ordon. If she didn't go that far into Faron, it'd be completely fine, right?

"And _where _do you think you're headed by yourself?" Rusl's voice had Claire stalling in her tracks, halfway across the swinging rope bridge (which was _terrifying_, thanks very much!)

"Aw, _Rusl!_ I'm new to Hyrule! I just want to-to go _see _it," Claire barely kept from whining when Rusl caught up to her – she hadn't managed to convince her feet to move again on the wobbly bridge once she stopped – and steered her back in the direction of the village. She tromped across the heavy planks, cooperating but very willing to let Rusl know she wasn't happy about it.

"I'm sure all of Ordon is well aware of your curious streak," Rusl couldn't hide his amusement at Claire's pout, though he sobered before continuing. "...I've been seeing more monsters venturing through Faron, closer and closer to our little province's border. Whatever skills you may have, the woods aren't to be trifled with – _especially_ not with monsters becoming more active. They're not clever, but if you encounter a group of them alone..."

"I understand," Claire huffed, a now-familiar prickle of anxiety churning in her gut at the reminder that this peace was going to end sooner rather than later. "I thought I'd grown up in a small enough town that I would do alright somewhere like this, somewhere... Rural. Now I'm realizing just how much of a city kid I actually am. I feel like a tourist, going 'ooh, what's that?' at everything she sees," she griped, flushing with embarrassment.

"For someone whose home is surely very different from ours, I think you're doing quite well," Rusl reassured her with a chuckle. "You've been a great help to my wife and Pergie and Sera, you're a quick study despite clearly doing much of this for the first time, and you make our children happy. But you just aren't equipped to go exploring the woods as they are right now – not by yourself."

Well, it was nice to know the villagers _also_ seemed to know how hopelessly out of her depth Claire was in Hyrule – _not_. _Do you need someone to hold your hand, too? _She mocked herself derisively as she was herded back into Ordon. Claire wanted to say she'd be _just fine on her own, thank you very much, _but it wasn't true here the way it might have been on Earth. She couldn't disrespect her hosts like that, not for trying to keep her safe: despite the suspicion and aloofness she'd been met with originally, Claire could tell that these people sincerely gave a damn.

"...Thanks for keeping an eye on me. As much as I might gripe and complain, I appreciate it. I-I know I wouldn't stand a chance out there on my own, and I'd _really _like–" Claire bit the inside of her lip. _Don't think about it, don't say it, you're just gonna get that pitying look again._ Of course Rusl noticed her reticence immediately, and Claire felt his pondering gaze on the side of her head. "...I want to make it back to my family in one piece," she finished, barely more than a mumble.

Claire stubbornly refused to let herself think of her family more than a few times a day, had barely even mentioned them after her first few days in Ordon; otherwise she'd just drown herself in what-ifs and hypotheses that she'd probably never get the answers to.

_If I __**am**_ _supposed to help Link save Hyrule, it's going to be a hell of a long time before I go home; the more I think that that's why I'm here, the more it makes sense._

Rusl clasped one hand over Claire's shoulder and squeezed gently. She hadn't noticed him turn to face her, hadn't realized she stopped moving. She couldn't meet his eyes, afraid that if she saw compassion she'd end up crying despite her best efforts. After taking a steadying breath, Claire forced her feet to move.

They walked down the hill between Link's house and the rest of Ordon in silence, but Rusl stopped just as the village came into view.

"I thought you'd like to know who is going with you to Castle Town," he offered after a curious moment where Claire had no idea what was about to happen. "I was originally planning to, but with Uli so far along..." Ah, so _that's_ what it was. When would he approach Link with that? It would have to be soon, if the timeline as she knew it held up...

"You want to be here for her," Claire finished, getting a nod in return. "So ... who's it going to be, then?"

"I don't know if you've seen him much in the last week, but I'm hoping to send Link in my stead. It'll do him some good to see the world beyond our little valley," Rusl said, indicating toward the ranch. Oh, _if only_ it turned out to be that simple. Claire knew better than that, but a girl could hope, right?

"Yeah, I met the other day. Colin talks a lot about Link— he clearly looks up to him. He's _very_ excited to give him that fishing rod."

"Oh, he certainly is," Rusl laughed affectionately. "Link lived with us the first few years of Colin's childhood, it's not farfetched to say they're like brothers."

"Well, if he says yes... let him know I'm looking forward to traveling with him." _It's just the 'everything else' about traveling with him that I'm worried about... _Claire felt like she might burst at the seams with all this gods-forsaken knowledge! What she wouldn't give for a journal, or someone else in the know.

"You won't be joining me when I approach Link?" Rusl wondered, raising his eyebrow at the teen. Claire's gait faltered as she came out of her thoughts.

"I didn't, um... want to just invite myself along," she winced at the admission, not quite looking at Rusl.

"Well, you can consider this your invitation if you'd like," he said, amusement in his face. Claire knew her ideas of what was and wasn't polite weren't quite aligned with what the people of Ordon were used to.

"Okay, sure. Just let me know when you want to talk to him, and... I'll go with you."

* * *

Claire McKinley was an enigma, walking incongruity taking up residence in Ordon village. She was remarkably polite, despite her occasionally sharp tongue — but whatever standards she had set for manners, Claire only held herself to them. She had a second name as most nobility did, the almost flawless teeth she claimed were 'par for the course' where she came from, but the muscle and determination of a common working girl.

She certainly approached the unknown with the naïve gusto of a runaway noble who'd bucked authority to experience the world for herself, yet she worked without protest when she was given daily chores just like everyone else. She seemed to revel in it, in fact. It wasn't the _disposition_ of a young noble who'd grown up with servants.

But she was also tormented by nightmares the way Rusl remembered his grandfather had been, the kind of nightmares that no parent could wish on a child. She wouldn't accept comfort, shying away from her hosts with no recognition in her eyes for several long seconds. When Claire remembered where she was, she'd tense up and mutter something about getting fresh air. She tended to disappear for the better part of an hour, and she would return without as much of a haunted look in her eyes (despite the darkening circles beneath them).

Claire McKinley was a _puzzle_.

But for whatever shadows clung to her soul, Rusl didn't think Claire herself posed a threat; the village had largely discarded their suspicions in the first days after the girl's appearance. She'd proven herself to be helpful and kind, almost exactly what the village may have wanted from a visitor.

Yes, Rusl no longer suspected she meant them ill, but... he couldn't shake the feeling that Claire's arrival meant _something_ was coming.

Rusl trained harder with Link after that first week, but strained their training swords too far only three and a half days in: Link's wooden sword snapped when they locked blades too forcefully, putting a halt on training until Rusl could fix it.

"Sorry, son," the man winced when he pulled Link back to his feet. "Are you hurt?"

Link shook his head, signing 'only surprised' as he examined the remaining half of his training sword. 'You OK?' he asked, looking back up at his mentor.

"I'm alright. These woods have merely had me... On edge, lately," Rusl confessed quietly. Faron's spring was ever peaceful, but he was grateful they never ventured further to train.

'What should we do for training next time?'

"Well, now that I think of it... Uli told me within a few days of Claire's arrival that our visitor admitted to having some years of martial arts training under her belt. How would you feel about including her in our next training session?"

Not only would it make up for the missed sword training, but it would also help disperse some of the frenetic energy building up within Claire (cabin fever, she called it) as well.

Link looked surprised, but not for the reason Rusl expected. 'Would she say yes? She doesn't like me much.'

Rusl had to fight not to laugh out loud— what could've given the boy that idea? "Are you sure of that, son?" he asked.

'Well, she was kind of...' Link paused, searching for the word. "...Standoffish," 'when we met. It didn't look like she wanted to talk to me,' he shrugged. It didn't bother him, but he hadn't missed it either.

Now Rusl did allow himself to chuckle just a bit, remembering Claire fretting to Uli about what sort of impression she'd left on the boy with her 'abysmal' (her word choice) conversational skills.

"You might be surprised," he finally said when Link gave him a curious look. It wasn't his place to divulge the goings-on of Claire's mind, so he stopped before saying anything more. It was enough to interest Link, in any case.

'...Okay,' he signed after another considering moment. 'If you think she'll agree.'

"I'll ask her tomorrow morning, then," and Rusl was _quite_ sure she would agree (even without the invitation to be there when Rusl asked Link to go to Castle Town) if she was as taken with Link as he suspected she was.

* * *

_A/N: This chapter was a little long-winded, sorry about that! Like I said, I've mostly been playing around in peacetime to set up characters and whatnot. If the title didn't tip you off, however, next chapter we're really getting into the action! I promise this time! _

_Either way I hope you liked the read, and happy 2020!_


	5. Slipping (Into The Deep End)

_A/N: And now the part I'm sure everyone's been waiting for: the actual plot of Twilight Princess is officially beginning here! Also, I didn't acknowledge it last time because I wanted to see what initial responses would be, but I've been trying to write Link using sign as well as speaking out loud. I have a plan and it'll make sense soon guys, I promise. Not in this chapter, but soon!_

_One more thing! I'm introducing a twist at the beginning of this chapter! It won't affect this story overmuch, since it's pretty much all taking place in Hyrule, but it __**does **__establish something fun about the Earth that Claire came from, and opens up another concept I'm excited to play around with... More info in the end note :) _

_Late Addition: So, uh. How bout that COVID-19? Please be safe out there, new and old readers! Wash your hands, wear a mask when you go out, and stay home if you can! I don't know all of you, but I know I care about every single one of you, and I want us all to make it through this pandemic. Just stay calm and keep yourself safe, and we'll get through this. _

* * *

"Whoa, so he could _fly?!_" Beth's delighted exclamation echoed in the spring, and Claire tried not to visibly wince; after all, she'd been _just _as captivated with the idea of a flying hero crossing the sky.

...You know, once the Scary Alien Invasion part was done with.

It was a calm afternoon, for a day Claire was trying not to think of as 'two days before Doomsday'. The morning was for games, but Claire had been brought along when the kids eventually retreated to the shade of the spirit spring as the sun rose higher in the sky. They'd been playing a combination of capture the flag and hide-and-seek, but the late summer sun still heated the valley quickly.

Claire was certainly a willing prisoner, regaling the kids with all the stories she could think of - with some creative liberties, since she was still trying to figure out how to tell any of them the full truth about Earth (though it was fun to convince the kids there was a man in Claire's world who dressed up like a bat at night to fight criminals). Some stories were reworkings of things like Star Wars, or the Hunger Games. But not all of Superman's escapades dealt with alien invasions, there were some down-to-earth stories from folks he'd saved in the past few years that would do just fine in a world like Hyrule. _The kids are going to need a story that reminds them to __**hope**__, when all this mess really starts... What better symbol than the man with the word 'hope' on his chest?_

The village kids didn't need convincing when it came to the existence of a man who fell from the stars, a man who could fly. They were _enamored_, and Claire couldn't help herself. After spending so many years in Port Anderton, a population which largely _hated_ Superman, it was water after a drought. So maybe she slipped so far as 'not revealing too much about Earth'.

So what if the idea of showing off a little to people who didn't revile the alien hero was too tempting to pass up, _just this once?_

"I-I got to meet him last year. I have a picture, do you... do you want to see?" _The _picture. On her _phone_. Which she had **just **resolved _not to show the kids. _Of course, given the opportunity to see something new, let alone a picture of this mythical hero Claire had painted in their heads? They _swarmed_. "Okay, okay, easy! First thing's first, can you all _promise_ me to keep this quiet? I'm still... figuring everything out. It's gotta be a secret for a bit longer until I know the right words to say. Can you do that?"

"We promise!" Beth nearly squealed, bouncing on the balls of her feet in excitement.

"Yeah! We won't tell _anyone_!" Talo nodded eagerly beside her, crowding closer with his brother on the other side. Taking in a deep, fortifying breath, Claire reached into her bag to take out the phone and battery.

"O-Okay... This is called a _cell phone_. It takes pictures, plays music, and you can use it to talk to people. Well, usually. It wouldn't work here. The picture's in here, I just have to... turn it on..." It'd been weeks, would the battery even have a charge anymore? Before she could really panic, Claire saw the screen light up and start running its startup animation. The kids were appropriately _oohing _and _ahhing _at the alien device as it powered on.. "I can't really explain how it works, I'm sorry. There are a lot of things I didn't learn about in-depth, this is one of them. But... Here, I can show you the picture of Superman."

Claire looked as put-together as she could be in those two pictures, given who was hugging her. Superman was a head taller than her with plenty of wiggle room to spare, but the memory that lingered with Claire wasn't the height, or even the hug from the Man of Steel himself_._ It was the pinch in his brow, the grief in his eyes when she told him about the foster brother she'd lost during the invasion. The gentleness of his _'I'm sorry'_, coming from a man who could _melt steel_ with his _eyes_!

_This isn't the time, don't get distracted! _

Claire turned the phone around to show the kids, bracing for any potential reactions as she revealed far more about her world than she'd planned to. The backdrop was the newly-opened Heroes Park, the back end of the memorial and the rest of Metropolis in the distance. The memorial, where Claire had painstakingly tracked down Logan's name to leave her flowers not ten minutes earlier. She hadn't expected to see _him_, let alone get his attention, so the awe she felt in the kids' reactions was familiar to her.

Even Malo audibly gasped at the vibrant red of Superman's cape, of the crest emblazoned on his deep blue suit. Beth, bless her, went bright pink as she studied the picture. "He looks so _strong_," she observed without shame.

"Yeah, he was the strongest person in my world. His people were, I mean." _Black Zero was evidence enough of that..._ "He's the only one there, now, but his people were _way _stronger than any human or animal on Earth."

"That's _awesome!_" Colin exclaimed.

"Can you show us more stuff?" Talo asked, though he was still staring intently at the picture.

Was it tempting? Definitely. Was it a good idea? _Absolutely not._ Then again...

"Um... sure!" Maybe Claire had gotten careless, too lost in the excitement of _thank god they don't think I'm crazy_ to really think about the decision, or pay proper attention to the rest of the world.

"Actually..." The voice was a shot of ice down the wayward teenager's back; feeling very much like a deer caught in the headlights, Claire slowly made a quarter-turn to face Uli, who had certainly seen her phone and _the picture on it_. "...It's time for everyone to go back to the village, your parents want you all home to eat. Colin, you as well, son," Uli finally spoke, and Claire almost startled physically with how the woman's even tone threw her off; they could have been playing a game with rocks and sticks, for how little Uli's face betrayed her reaction.

The kids all said goodbye to Claire (Colin even surprised her with a shy hug before he scurried away), until it was just her and Uli following slowly. Tucking the phone away as surreptitiously as she could, Claire waited for the inevitable questions that would surely follow this literally-otherworldly discovery.

"...As curious as I may be, Claire, your secrets are your own to keep unless you _choose_ to share them," Uli finally broke the silence, and this time Claire _did_ stumble— just barely catching herself before she would've faceplanted. _That can't be all there is to it, there's got to be a catch._ Uli pushed on, heedless of the disarray in the teen's mind. "Whatever I did or didn't see in the spring today, you've earned my trust."

"..._Thank_ you," Claire let out a breath she didn't realize she'd been holding, almost sagging with the weighty mixture of guilt and relief at the sentiment. She knew she didn't deserve that trust, especially given what was coming... what, the day after tomorrow? Gods, it had snuck up on her quickly. _The castle will probably be attacked soon, if not already... gods damn it all, what if I had just run away? Run to Castle Town as quickly as I could?_

"_Please _understand; trusting someone with my child, with children I love like my own... that trust _cannot _be misplaced," Uli insisted, and Claire forced herself to meet the woman's gaze.

Confiding in Uli... telling her the whole truth of who she was and where she came from... would that be enough to balance the scales against what she had to withhold? Hadn't she just been wishing for someone to talk to about all this? Why _couldn't_ it be the woman who fostered Link?

"...Okay. I-I... I want to tell you the truth about who I am. You can choose to believe me, or don't. I'm leaving for Castle Town in another day, so it won't matter right now, but... I'd really like to come back and visit once I've, um, once I've settled in. If I'm welcome, I mean." Claire saw Uli open her mouth, surely with reassuring words like _of course you'd be welcome_, but continued before she could interject. "I need you to wait to make that decision until you know the truth. It's... gonna sound a little bit crazy."

Uli's lips thinned, apprehension and concern warring in her eyes. "... As you say. We can discuss it tonight, after your training with Rusl and Link," she acquiesced, and they continued walking in silence. Colin and Rusl were none the wiser to any of the tension Claire felt was almost tangible as they ate, and Uli was acting perfectly pleasant. Like she'd seen and heard nothing out of the ordinary today.

So it _might _have left her off her game — on top of the growing ball of lead in her stomach at the _idea _of sparring with Link to begin with! That had been a _hell_ of a bombshell for Rusl to drop on her without warning; she hadn't been _avoiding_ Link, not exactly, but she didn't actually mind that they'd only had a handful of interactions in the few weeks she'd been in the village. Claire was still trying to convince herself that he was a _real person_, let alone someone she would be spending the vast majority of the foreseeable future with.

...All the same, she could've controlled her reaction a little better.

'_You want me to __**what?!**_' she'd just managed to eke out, when Rusl first asked her. The man had said something about monsters and protection on the road, and Claire _agreed_, but she barely processed a single word he said after the initial ask.

"...Are you sure you feel up to participating tonight? You seem distracted," Rusl said as Claire narrowly avoided stumbling through another dip in the path to the spring.

"Yeah, I'm okay." Of course, that was a lie; she felt too jittery to appreciate properly venturing out of Ordon for the first time, no matter how lush the Faron province was. Too many things had happened today, and something in the atmosphere made her feel unnerved. If nothing else, maybe she could channel all that nervous energy into training.

"I hope so, because I'd like to make a quick assessment if you're amenable. Just to see how you've been instructed. We can work up to the training swords afterward," Rusl hummed, satisfied, when they reached the spring.

Running through her own warmup was a bit odd with a spectator, especially given _who_ was spectating, but Claire settled into a rhythm easily enough that she almost forgot Link was there until it was time for Rusl to join in.

The man only ended up asking her for clarification on some of her forms — "if you don't have a shield or something to defend yourself, you've got to protect your head as best you can", and "you start with your opposite foot forward so you're leading with your dominant foot when you strike" — before taking over with further instruction of his own.

Before long they had all worked up a sweat, and Claire managed to shuffle out of her undershirt beneath her tunic, slipping it into her little _adventure pouch_ with a wince as she worked her muscles. Doing all this with other people tested her limits in a way Claire wasn't used to after training in solitude for the past two weeks, but she liked it.

_Gods, why isn't it this easy to talk with Link all the time?_ Here they could banter with all the sass Claire had been known for back home and not bat an eye, even despite her earlier misgivings about whether she could handle that kind of proximity. _This would've been so much easier if I wasn't a massive nerd, good grief. Link could've just been some handsome, elf-eared farm boy in my mind instead of the damn Hero of Hyrule..._

Things went a little sideways during a third round with Rusl, though; the whole point of the move she was trying to show Link was 'what you do if someone (or some_thing_) tries to grab you from behind'. In practice, though, it sent a jolt of _terror_ down Claire's spine, and she reacted before she could blink.

From one moment to the next, Claire went from standing upright with Rusl behind her to knelt in the dirt with a knee braced on the man's chest.

"Oh my— _shit_!" the teen yelped, scrambling back to let Rusl free as soon as she realized what she'd done. "Rusl, I'm sorry, I-I didn't mean to-" she stammered helplessly, floundering.

But Rusl was _laughing!_ "I'm not hurt, Claire. I'm impressed by your reflexes," he praised, halfway sitting up from the ground as he took a moment to catch his breath. "I'm not as young as I once was, however, so perhaps we should end this here for today."

"I'm alright with that, I'm already gonna be feeling this tomorrow," Claire readily agreed, taking a seat next to the spring. Link ended up occupying space in the feet between the two.

Claire half-listened to their conversation as it meandered into familiar dialogue from the Twilight Princess intro, Rusl talking about the world of spirits and how the worlds intersect in the hour of dusk. All pretty words, ones Claire could almost quote from memory if she liked. Yet she couldn't follow the conversation to save her life, too caught up in what _would_ happen to think about what _was_ happening. Instead she worked the feeling back into her feet and let the lukewarm springwater rejuvenate her as it washed over her toes.

_Marvel at perfection, for it is fleeting..._

"...tell the mayor you're interested in taking my place, it shouldn't be an issue," Claire tuned back in as Rusl finished the ask, catching Link's eye for a moment as he looked between them.

"I guess we'll be getting to know each other better soon," Link said. Claire didn't miss the subtle look Rusl leveled at the back of his head, but she didn't know what to make of it, so she discarded it.

"I-I'm looking forward to it," Claire smiled despite the anxious crack behind the words. Despite everything telling her that she was embarrassing herself the longer she talked to him, she was determined to leave a better impression with him than their last interactions must have. "We haven't talked much since I came here, I'm sure we'll come up with something."

"Yeah, it'll be fun." The conversation petered out from there as they made their way back to the village, but the silence was comfortable rather than suffocatingly awkward.

Claire would have lingered by Ordona's spring in the hopes of getting any further direction from the light spirit if she didn't have an appointment to keep. _Not to mention there's no indication that I'd actually get an answer, it didn't work the last __**twelve **__times__**...**_

It didn't matter, because Uli was waiting for her back at the house. She was sitting on the porch when Claire returned, fiddling with Colin's cradle as she attempted to refurbish it for Baby Two.

"I hope you didn't have to wait long," Claire offered, taking a seat next to the woman.

"No, no need to worry. I don't mind sitting out here while I can. I won't be able to once winter sets in, not with this one," Uli dissuaded gently, one hand on the swell of her baby bump. Beyond that she waited patiently. Claire _was_ the person who'd offered to tell Uli who she was, so she had to say something... any day now... _say __**something!**_

"I-I almost don't know where to start with this, but... two weeks ago, I believed Hyrule was a complete work of fiction. I lived in a town called Port Anderton with my adopted sister Julie and our parents, Markus and Daniel. And... yeah, maybe it wasn't perfect. I didn't have a lot of friends, it wasn't the most accepting town, but it was the only home I'd ever really settled into before I came here. I didn't— I didn't _ask_ to come to Hyrule. I was walking home with stuff to make dinner, and then... I woke up in the spirit spring."

The words were like a dam bursting, impossible to stop once she let them out. "Ordona spoke to me that first night. They said this world needs my help, and... something about answers I'm '_not ready'_ for yet? And then they said the goddesses haven't... left me unprepared for the trials ahead," she strained for the memory, but she was sure that was a close approximation. "But that doesn't tell me why it's _me_, so I still don't know why _I'm _the unlucky bastard who got dragged into all this," Claire huffed around a hitching breath.

"I take it this isn't common knowledge," Uli said after a lengthy pause, and Claire shook her head.

"I told Rusl and Mayor Bo where I came from, I don't know if any of the other parents know. The kids saw my phone, so I'm sure they can figure I'm not from this world. I've told nobody else," she recalled quickly. Link, Fado, Ilia, they would have no idea — unless Bo confided in his daughter.

"Thank you for trusting me with the truth, Claire," Uli was so sincere, it felt like barbed wire twisting around Claire's heart. Because it wasn't the _full_ truth, was it? She was withholding the most _important_ truth from every single one of them. _In just a few days, their world is going to change forever..._

"Don't worry about it. I've been... going crazy thinking about telling somebody, just so I could _talk_ about it. I'm kind of glad you caught me showing off to the kids," Claire laughed weakly, rubbing the back of her neck — ugh, she needed a bath.

"...thank you again for confiding in me, Claire. We'd best head inside. There's a bowl of soup for you inside, everyone else has already eaten." And that was that, apparently. Claire took a moment to refocus, Uli's non-reactions continuing to throw her for a loop, before heading inside as well.

* * *

Claire didn't sleep until late, walking herself in circular arguments about what exactly she was supposed to _do. _Tomorrow was Link's 'day off', and then Ordon would be attacked the day after that— assuming the timeline progressed as Claire knew it. Sleep was fitful and fleeting, but she supposed the nice thing about that was that she wouldn't have nightmares if she couldn't sleep long enough to have one.

Rusl took one look at her when he came out of the house with the sunrise, the defeated slump of her shoulders and the dark circles under her eyes, and sent her right back to bed.

"You look like you'd tip over in a strong wind," he accused when Claire argued, though exasperation and amusement played in his tone equally as he herded her off the porch and back into the house.

"Wake me if anything comes up," she said sternly —as much as she could manage in all her five foot nothing glory— knowing Talo was going to run into the woods today. _Finally at least a little bit of action! _

... If nothing else, Claire could find out if she had the stomach for killing monsters: she sincerely doubted that they would turn black and explode into nothing like they did in the game.

Claire dozed off and on through the morning as Uli puttered about the house, nightmares driven away by either the soft daylight creeping across the floor or the woman's soothing presence if the teen became restless or distressed. She combed her fingers through Claire's brunette locks, loose from their braid.

She _probably _should have reacted when the calming hand, intentional or not, pushed her hair back to expose her ears. Her very non-human ears, which she'd gone out of her way to conceal her whole life. She _should_ have been concerned about the lengthy pause before the soothing motions continued, but Claire couldn't muster up the energy to remember why that might be a shock.

Nothing truly disturbed her until well into the afternoon as far as she would tell, and the disturbance was Colin coming through the door, calling for his father.

"Dad, hey. Dad? Talo, he— um, there was this monkey, and-and he chased after it. I think Link went after him, they ran into the woods, but it's, um... it's been a little while," the boy stammered, and after a beat of silence Claire nearly fell to the floor in her haste to get up off the couch. _Time to really see Faron now, huh.._.

"Claire, wait!" Rusl's worried shout followed her out the door as she stumbled out of the house, barely making the effort to strap her bag in place or tie her boots.

"I know where I'm going, and I can catch up with Link faster if I go _now_. I'll be back," Claire shot back over her shoulder before taking off at a brisk run across the meager village. She passed Malo and Beth near the spirit spring, awaiting Link's return, and directed them back to the village as she pushed forward. The juddering rope bridge made Claire's heart clench beneath her ribs, but she made herself keep running.

_Link crosses this bridge dozens of times in the game, __**obviously **__it's safe! Count the beats of the footsteps, don't think about the planks that wobble, or any parts of the rope that are starting to fray, and... Sweet land!_

Claire resolutely ignored the tremor in her muscles, not from exertion, as she pushed herself further into Faron. Past the spring, past the remains of a few deku babas, and through the dark tunnel that let out in North Faron. There was a dense fog obscuring most of the ground - not the noxious purple mist Claire knew to avoid from her Twilight Princess playthroughs; not yet, thank _God_.

"Cost versus benefits of going into there armed?" she mumbled to herself, drawing one of the beautiful daggers from her bag. _No __**way**_ _am I ready to dual-wield yet..._ "What if I'm caught with weapons on hand, though?"

That made the decision far easier. With a moment to steel herself, Claire braved the mist unarmed. She needn't have worried, however — aside from batting away a few pesky Keese, the monsters in the area looked like they'd been cleared out already.

Until they... weren't. Where Claire figured there would be a straight shot to the opposite tunnel that led to the forest temple, instead there were _still Bokoblins _guarding a locked gate! The teen lurched to a stop, desperately hoping she hadn't been seen or heard.

A sharp _skree!_ gutted those hopes before they could take root, and Claire groaned miserably when another swooping Keese drew the Bokoblins' attention to her. Before she could do more than take a fighting stance, the pest's claws and hooked tail were tearing into her hair — she couldn't hold back a pained yelp as the Keese pulled her off balance and into a tangle of ivy by the roots.

One of the Bokoblins was raising its club, the pair of them nearly upon her. It was all Claire could do to fling the little bug-eyed vampire away and haul herself up and _oh gods he's swinging! _

Claire just barely managed to roll to one side as the sharp club _whoosh_ed through the air where she'd just stood, briefly lodging in the soft dirt of the bog — much to the creature's displeasure. It raged and screamed its putrid breath in her face, and Claire tried not to gag as she forced herself into action.

Taking the opportunity the creature had so kindly given her, Claire swept its legs out from under it with one foot while snagging a decently-sized rock with her hand. As the Bokoblin crashed to the ground with an enraged screech, she whipped the rock at its companion's head. Her aim was off, the rock glancing off the creature's shoulder, but it bought her a second to deliver a swift kick to its jaw.

_I don't have to hold back, this is a fight for my life_, Claire thought — too used to pulling her punches in sparring matches, or roughhousing with Julie. But now she put all her strength into a full-force kick.

Somehow she wasn't expecting the sickening _crack _when its head snapped backward with the force of the blow, or for the Bokoblin to crumble to the ground slack-jawed and lifeless following the obvious sound of its bones breaking. It choked and gurgled pitifully for several long seconds, and Claire was paralyzed as she watched it die.

A hand seized her shoulder and _pushed_, and Claire yelped in surprise as she realized the other Bokoblin was upon her — would've clubbed her in the head, in fact, if not for a familiar ranch hand diving into the fray. It was _Link _pushing her to the ground as he cut down the second Bokoblin with his wooden sword.

It looked so familiar and so jarringly-_alien_ all at once. The future Hero's movements were obviously born of years of training, but he was still... Rough around the edges, in combat.

_Because he's not a video game character, he's a __**person. **__Young and inexperienced, just like you. _Claire forced herself to remember that, mostly still trying to scoop her brains back into her head after watching Link fight.

"What are you doing out here?" he asked, barely turning as he kept an eye on the downed monsters, though he extended a hand to help Claire to her feet.

"The _plan _was to help you find Talo," she huffed, embarrassed as she took his hand. "Have you caught up to him yet?"

"No. I just got the gate key from another one back that way," Link pointed back the way he came from. _That makes more sense than a treasure chest in the middle of the woods, _Claire decided. "I'm worried the monsters took him deeper into the woods."

"We should hurry, then," Claire said, trying to shake off the pit in her stomach. _You killed a monster, what's your problem? Move along, or you'll get left behind. _

No Bokoblins guarded the tunnel into the northern woods, but it was full of Keese, and Deku Babas, and _massive _rats — all dealt with swiftly, all credit to Link. As they approached the exit, the boy raised a hand to indicate they should stop before they fully left the tunnel.

"Can you hear them?" he asked lowly, and Claire strained her ears, though she didn't have to listen hard to catch what he was hearing; Bokoblin voices, speaking in their guttural tongue. She nodded, trying to pick out anything recognizable, even a repetition of a syllable or sound. It all just sounded like snarling and gurgling.

"Any idea what they're saying?"

"They don't have much of a language, but I can make out one word: child," Link said, a dark twist to his lips. Claire felt a chill in her bones; _that _promised nothing good, but the hard edge to her companion's eyes promised the monsters' swift end regardless.

"We should hurry," she said. Her reservations must have shown on her face, because Link softened, giving her a crooked little smile.

"You'll be alright. They're not smart, and you can fight them. I saw you do it, earlier."

"Yeah, and then you saved my ass when I froze up like a _moron _immediately after," Claire mumbled under her breath, forgetting Link's hearing was just as acute as hers, if not more so.

"Don't sell yourself short. You _can_ do this. Here... If you think it'll help, take this." Seemingly before she could blink, Link had passed her the slingshot and pellets. "Come on, I'll go for the one on the left. On my signal."

Without even thinking about it, Claire made an 'okay' sign with one hand. She didn't understand what flashed in Link's eyes; it was gone too quickly to catalogue, and with the sun nearing the treeline, they had bigger concerns.

Link waited until the Bokoblins were facing away, drew his wooden sword, gave Claire a quick nod, and charged. Not giving herself any time to think about it, she ran after him. The slingshot proved to be easier to aim than free throwing, and there was something satisfying about the Bokoblin's affronted screeching as she pelted it in the back of the head.

_Go for the neck, it seemed to break easily last time. _Claire shuddered at her own thoughts, but it was now or never. With a sharp cry, she roundhouse kicked at its neck with all she had — _crunch. _The Bokoblin crumpled to the ground, its head lying at an unnatural angle in the dirt, and showed no signs of getting back up.

"Nice work," Link complimented, having dealt with the other one. Claire gave him a shaky grin, until she caught something in her peripheral vision.

_Aren't there __**three **__Bokoblins in this area? _

"Down!"

Link's eyes widened, but he reacted quickly: he dove into a somersault, the Bokoblin's club slicing through the air where he'd been standing a moment earlier. Claire snatched the end of the weapon when the creature overbalanced, planted her feet and _yanked_. It stumbled forward in just such a way that Link, already back on his feet, could run it through before it even knew it was doomed.

"Woo! Hey, lady! That was super! Now buy something!" a certain shop-running, afro-headed starling squawked

"...See, you're a natural," Link said wryly in the silence that followed. Claire couldn't help but scoff at the notion, but took the thanks for what it was.

"Let's find Talo and get him home. Something about the forest feels... _Wrong." _The feeling of _whatever _was in the air was unexpectedly weighty, filling the atmosphere with a choking, claustrophobic sense of unease.

"I thought it was just me," Link murmured at her side as they walked northward. She shook her head.

"More and more these last few weeks, I've gotten this awful feeling that something horrible is coming, and it's only gotten worse. There's something..." _Dark_, she didn't manage to say, as she finally heard a screeching monkey and small, hiccuping sobs. "Talo's up ahead, _quick_," she whispered urgently instead, picking up the pace toward the forest temple.

The walls of the winding root that made the path were too high for Claire to look over, but she didn't need to _see_ to know where Talo was, or that he and his new friend were being guarded by two Bokoblins. Truthfully, she hardly needed her prior knowledge for that — the Bokoblins were _loud_, and not simply standing guard over their prey. No, they were snarling and hissing in each other's sunken, leathery faces. _Perfect, they won't even notice us until it's too late._

Two Bokoblins later, Claire saw something she couldn't quite make sense of. She'd expected to see Link smash the wooden cage with his sword, or something to that effect; instead, he simply pried the wooden bars free of their shoddy ties with a noisy _snap_ and a burst of plant fibres. The top of the cage was tossed away without another thought as the monkey squeaked happily amid Talo's triumphant cheers.

Claire didn't miss how he quickly smudged away dirty tear tracks while Link double checked the Bokoblins were truly dead, and the monkey scampered off after checking to ensure the little human was alright. Claire knelt down to check the boy over for herself, quickly cataloguing a few roughly hand-shaped bruises on his arms, a few scrapes here or there. Nothing major that she could see.

"What were you thinking, running off like that on your own? What if we'd come too late?" she asked, keeping her voice level. Talo still flinched like she'd screamed it at him. "...Look, it's not my job to lecture you, kiddo, so I won't. But you've _got _to be more careful," she urged, leaning over until she could meet his downturned eyes.

"Okay, I'll try..." he mumbled. The boy perked up considerably when Link rejoined them, though. "That was _awesome_ how you guys killed those monsters, Link!"

Link gave the boy a half smile, ruffling his hair. "Sure it was, but let's not make a _habit _of chasing monkeys into the woods," he said, only a hint of admonishment in the words. Talo winced, nodding sheepishly.

"Yeah, I-I think I'm ready to go home," he admitted, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Seconded, let's get out of here."

The rescue had taken longer than they'd thought, a handful of stars already beginning to peek through the sunset-tinted sky above their heads when they were crossing the bog. Talo didn't speak up again until the south Faron gate was in sight, at the far end of the tunnel they were crossing.

"Gee, uh... y'know, Link. If you and Claire hadn't'a showed up, me and that monkey would'a been eaten, probably... She even tried to save me, y'know? She came back for me, 'n we got captured together..." the boy still couldn't quite meet either of their gazes, but he already looked much better off than when they'd first rescued him. "You, um, you're not gonna mention this to my dad, are you? He always says the forest is _super_ dangerous... so, you _really_ can't tell him, okay? You've gotta _promise_!"

True to form, Talo was off running back toward Ordon before Claire or Link could respond. They shared a look, shrugging.

"Hopefully he's learned his father's right," Claire hummed noncommittally.

"Ah! There you two are!" Rusl's voice broke through the little clearing, approaching from the northern road that led to Hyrule field. "I thought I might find you somewhere nearby. You found Talo, then?" The question was directed at Claire, but she saw the play of confusion and amusement cross Link's face as he realized what had happened.

"I never did get to ask how you knew what happened to Talo," he mused.

"Colin came and woke me up looking for Rusl," Claire supplied. "Those monkeys that have been coming into the village... is that common around here?"

"Not until recently," Rusl admitted. "The woods have been strange lately, there aren't usually so many monsters out and about. I hope it's no indication of what's to come, but I feel as though something dark is on the horizon for Hyrule..."

It took everything Claire had not to outwardly react to the words beyond polite concern; _obviously_ worse things were coming! But these were country folk in an already-complacent Hyrule. The fact that anyone noticed at all before they were set upon by monsters was impressive.

"Come now, it's nearly dark. We ought to be back in Ordon," Rusl patted Link's shoulder, tugging gently until he walked at his side. Claire was just ahead, only partly listening. "Tomorrow the two of you set off for Hyrule proper. I think it'll be good for you to see more of the country with someone your age," he rumbled thoughtfully. "I wish you luck and a peaceful journey, son. If you're truly lucky, you may even get to meet Princess Zelda!" he laughed at the notion. Why and how would a farmhand from Ordon get to meet the future queen, right?

_What a silly idea..._

* * *

_A/N: Wowie, this took awhile! I'm sorry again, folks! This pandemic really just sapped my creative energy ^n^; But! Now that I've powered through this and at least gotten mostly through the Twilight Princess intro, __**yes**__: Claire's from a DC Earth (one I've affectionately nicknamed Earth-214 _— _if you know, you know ^_−) _


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